1 66 Ferns of British India and Ceylon. 



7. Athyrium nigripes. (Mett.) Caudex stout, often 2-3 

 inches out of ground ; stipes tufted, firm, round, glabrous ; fronds 

 8-30 inches long, quite deltoid, with the lowest pinnae largest, 

 to oblong, lanceolate, herbaceous, not plicate-striate beneath ; pinnae 

 about 8 inches long, by z\ broad, (but variable in size) pinnules 

 often deeply pinnatifid to only a winged rachis ; segments crenate 

 or serrate, not spinulose ; sori linear-oblong, only slightly curved 

 in two oblique rows towards the midrib of the pinna ; involucres 

 persistent. Mett. Farng. Aspl. 195. Hook. Syn. Fil. 227, not 

 Bedd. F. S. I. t. 157, which is selenopteris. 



Himalayas, from Kashmir to Bhotan, 3,000-11,000 feet eleva- 

 tion, very common about Darjeeling ; Khasya 2,000-6,000 feet. 

 Not in Southern India or Ceylon, the former plant being selenopteris, 

 (Kunze), the latter gymnogrammoides. 



Var. /3 Clarkei. (Bedd.) Fronds linear-lanceolate, up to 

 3 feet long, and 3-4, rarely 6 inches, broad, gradually narrowed 

 at both ends, generally rooting from a bud on the upper side of the 

 rachis ; rachis of pinnae, costa, and veins, sometimes furnished with a 

 few weak setae. Athyrium Clarkei, Bedd. Sup. Ferns, t. 360. 



Nepal, Sikkim, common at Surail near Darjeeling, 6,000 feet ; 

 Kulhoit Valley, 6,000-7,000 feet. I feel quite certain now that this 

 is only an elongated variety of nigripes, and Mr. Clarke agrees. 



(Mr. Clarke's nigripes, var. dissecta, appears to be typical 

 nigripes rather more cut than usual.) 



8. Athyrium selenopteris. (Ktmze.) Caudex stout, erect; 

 stipes tufted, often 10 inches long, stramineous; fronds 10-20 inches 

 long, lanceolate, somewhat attenuated towards the base, never deltoid ; 

 pinnae 2-6 inches long, rather distant; texture rather flaccid, pinnatifid 

 to a winged rachis in the smaller forms, or almost quite pinnate in the 

 larger forms, the wing of the rachis being almost obsolete, the pin- 

 nules deeply pinnatifid, but with a somewhat decurrent base, the 

 ultimate segments more or less crenated, or even serrated ; sori oblong 

 or curved. Kunze, Mett. Farngatt. Asp. 196. Asp. nigripes, var. 

 selenopteris, Clarke, F. N. I. p. 491. Athyrium aspidioides, Hook. 

 Syn. Fil. p. 228. (in part) as far as the Nilgiri specimens are concerned, 



